Eager Container Gardener

I almost always tend to bite off more than I can chew with anything I want to do. I tell myself ALL THE THINGS I want to do with my garden BUT it rarely ends up being as big and luscious as I daydream about in April + beginning of May every year. AND THAT’S OKAY.

This year some of my biggest focuses are to build onto what I was actually able to do last year, figure out a self-watering system that works for container gardening (apartment living, amiright?), and personally use and gift what produces. AND a little shout out to Ms. Monstera, she desperately needs some love this year. The big goal is to keep experimenting with what I have and learn for the ultimate garden of my dreams when I move into a house again (which probably won’t be for a little while yet). 

Last Year Reflection

Last year, I had some big goals and dreams of how I wanted my balcony to FEEL. Sadly, it did not. BUT that’s okay! I was able to dabble with herbs again, a handful of cut flower varieties, a few pepper plants, AND GUYS, I DID BUY A LEMON TREE (even though she didn’t last very long). AND I learned how to prune each of the herbs I did plant too! 

Herbs that I actually planted:

• Rosemary
• Oregano
• Basil
• Dill
• Cilantro
• Mint

You can read more about last year’s dream balcony oasis here →→

After rereading last year’s blog post, I realized that, instead of going off of this ultimate dream garden picture I have in my head (bc let’s face it, I have NO yard and No garden beds), I’m going to focus on building my way up to MORE and learning more every year from where I was the year before. Which holds true from last year’s gardening. I did more than the year before, and that’s improvement! 

Ms. Monstera

I have a HUGE terra cotta pot in my garage that I brought with me in my move and it has sat in the garage holding bags of soil and probably some of the other gardening stuff too. I would love to get her into this big pot with a sturdy moss pole for her to climb. If I decide to propagate, I’ve already decided on giving a cutting to my momma and one of my long time friends. WITH the moss pole all ready to go in the soil so they don’t have to worry about repotting in the near future.  

Goals for 2026

With what you know about last year’s gardening efforts, I’m still planning on having herbs, a select (undecided) variety of cut flowers, and MAYBE SOME produce. Every summer around mid-July I struggle with keeping my plants alive, so a watering system is definitely at the top of my mind. AND I also recently learned that my gardening zone is 5b so I’m hoping to do more research on that to help enhance my green thumb here in Wisconsin.

July is a BUSY month for me this year, with my annual (hottest) weekend of the year being booked AND a trip to COLORADO in the works for a WEDDING. Needless to say, I won’t be around a whole lot and my plants still need the love they deserve. I had this idea (and suddenly have been seeing it all over social media), but I have a ton of empty wine bottles lying around so I will be testing an up-cycled wine bottle watering method with them this summer.

Maybe even paint them up all cute with floral designs or to fit with which containers I’m putting them in to add a little more whimsy..? hmmmm.

Herbs

The herbs list is pretty much going to be similar to previous years because I do enjoy cooking and baking and I do love using fresh herbs. One thing that I’d like to do differently from previous years is plant each herb in separate pots AND on a bigger scale (2-4 littles of each in one pot), mainly to fill up all of this incredible space that I have on my balcony. AND Abundance! That way I can USE what I’m growing and even gift some of it to my favorite people. 

• Basil
• Dill
• Cilantro
• Mint
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Chives
• Rosemary
• Chamomile
• Lavender

Cut Flowers / Pollinator Magnets

My FLOWER list grows bigger and bigger constantly. I LOVE FLOWERS. I’m not 100% sure on which ones I’ll actually get around to this year. I’ve always loved the idea of chaos gardening, but also the individual bushels of the same plant is also appealing because I do want to fill up space with a variety of containers and make it feel luscious. I also want to attract butterflies and bees and other pollinating creatures too.  

• Zinnias
• Daisies
• Cosmos
• Dahlias
• Ranaculus
• Snapdragons
• Sweet Peas
• Yarrow
• Poppies
• Alyssum
• Lisianthus
• Delphiniums
• Fox Gloves
• Milkweed (for the butterflies hehe)

Produce

The produce list keeps getting put further on the back burner simply because I feel like maintaining produce in containers is a little bit more challenging (even though I’ve done a TON of raised bed research from when I was living at the house yet). BUT I do still have a short list of veggies that I regularly have in my fridge and would be nice to have around 24/7.

• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce / Spinach
• Peppers
• Green Beans

My Ultimate Gardening Dreams

I could go ON AND ON AND ON about my DREAM garden. You know, like the one you daydream and add pins to your Pinterest board about. Yeah, it’s going to be a jungle of leaves and color and cobble stone paths and bistro lights and outdoor furniture all consolidated into a wooden fenced in space. A place for my people to always come to gather. It’s hard to say EXACTLY what my dream garden is going to look like, but I have a vision, I know what I want to keep adding, and most importantly, there’s a feeling I’m building towards. 

Maybe I’ll make a separate post about this, bc to be completely honest. It’s quite a lot. And it changes quite frequently too. I find new content creators, new pins, new ideas and DIY projects every single day.

If you’re an eager gardener, what’s something new that you’re trying in your garden this year?